Chapter 516

Output has also increased further, and pests have decreased as well.

In Yan Province, large quantities of cash crops have entered the harvest season.

"We don't have enough manpower."

In the City of Miracles, the fox woman Qing Ling said.

She occasionally stays in the new capital of the Fire炎 Empire, but most of the time, she prefers to remain in the City of Miracles.

This is the divine city she built with her own hands.

Meng Ying looked at her and said: "Recruit workers from the other three provinces—only women, and pay them high wages."

The fox woman Qing Ling nodded and said: "That's a good solution."

Women are clearly faster than men at picking vegetables and fruit, and the other three provinces are also vigorously developing farmland; for ordinary peasants, one person can clear ten mu of land, and although the women at home are also laborers, their potential hasn't been fully utilized—there's still considerable surplus labor.

Yan Province can recruit at least a million women from the other three provinces, which would greatly ease the labor shortage during harvest season.

Recruiting only women also avoids certain troubles, because women only want to earn money and rarely cause trouble.

The fox woman Qing Ling said: "Sister Meng Ying, there are more than just our own beastman nation on the Continent of Gods—if we can find other beastman nations, conquer them, and relocate their beastmen to Yan Province, that would be a fundamental solution."

Recruiting women from the other three provinces is only a temporary measure, because as those three provinces develop rapidly, they too will soon face labor shortages.

What the fox woman Qing Ling mentioned, however, is a fundamental solution.

Given Yan Province's size, the number of beastmen could grow tenfold without issue.

The beastmen's combat strength is generally formidable; as their numbers increase, their armies can expand too—unlike now, where they're stuck at just two hundred thousand, and any more would severely impact Yan Province's production.

Meng Ying said: "Yes, the Crown Princess has many connections in the Eternal Night Empire—I'll ask her to find out which regions still have beastman nations."

Around the City of Miracles, numerous factories are also being constructed.

Yes, tea production, silk production, and winemaking are best done through centralized, factory-based methods.

The loom, inspired by the Flame Lord, has been invented by the cat princess Lodi, the very invention that triggered the First Industrial Revolution in Lin Yan's former world, and it will greatly increase weaving efficiency.

Of course, Lodi's loom isn't as primitive—it incorporates many magical components, making the entire machine more efficient and less prone to wear.

Of course, these factories are certainly not the exploitative factories of Lin Yan's former world; both working conditions and environments are excellent.

In short, everything has settled onto the right track.

Productivity has grown too fast, and the population is too small to keep up—this has become the biggest problem.

Meanwhile, to the north, the number of elves in the Sacred Flame Forest continues to increase.

In the sky, fifteen airships flew in from afar.

The Holy Maiden Lidiya had already been waiting there.

These are sea elves who migrated from an island forest in an inland sea.

The inland seas of the Continent of Gods are exceptionally vast; the largest inland sea is even bigger than the combined area of the four oceans of Lin Yan's former world!

There are many sea elves—over fifty thousand in total.

They lived on a massive island covered entirely in forests.

They worship the Storm Goddess, who is not of the elf lineage.

But once their island was discovered, trouble arrived.

Periodically, large fleets arrive to attack the forest, attempting to capture elves to take back.

These fleets aren't a single force—they come from many factions, some even with just a single ship daring to risk it.

After all, beautiful elves are a favorite of every noble on the Continent of Gods; one means several million gold coins.

Naturally, these fellows all met bad ends, but their endless arrival has made the sea elves deeply annoyed.

And with the involvement of several human nations, their situation has grown even worse.

So, upon receiving Princess Chenxi's invitation letter, the sea elves decided to migrate to the Sacred Flame Forest.

But their decision angered the Storm Goddess, who withdrew her protection.

The Storm Goddess is a powerful deity, but her followers are mostly on the sea; if the sea elves leave their island, it's obvious that over time, they'd cease to believe in her—that's one reason the Storm Goddess abandoned her protection.

Well, in fact, after several human nations launched attacks, the Storm Goddess exerted her power a few times but couldn't effectively stop them; she likely realized that even if she continued protecting them, she couldn't save them forever, and migration was the only option left—so she found a reason to withdraw.

This is probably the second reason.

Gods care about face too!

Without the Storm Goddess's protection, the sea elves faced even greater hardship.

Fortunately, Princess Chenxi and Lomina arrived in time and rescued them from the island, which was heavily surrounded.

"Wow, this forest is huge!"

On the airships, the sea elves from the island forest exclaimed in astonishment.

The size of the Sacred Flame Forest truly exceeded their expectations.

Of course, the astonishing speed of the Sacred Flame Forest's development and the height of the Life Tree also amazed these sea elves.

This is the universal reaction of every elf who arrives here.

Nothing but astonishment.

After astonishment comes curiosity—and even worship—toward the Flame Lord.

The Holy Maiden Lidiya warmly welcomed them, took the fifty thousand sea elves on a tour of the capital, which Princess Chenxi named the City of Holy Light, then led them to choose the forests where they would live.

Since these sea elves had lost the Storm Goddess's protection and were rescued by Princess Chenxi in a moment of peril, they quickly all came to worship the Flame Lord.

In fact, thanks to Lidiya's efforts, the number of elves who worship the Flame Lord has been steadily increasing.

After relocating to the Sacred Flame Forest, these elves all felt the warmth of home and soon regarded it as their new homeland; though they didn't join in land reclamation, they devoted themselves to cultivating their own forests.

Every elf tribe that worships the Flame Lord has built a temple in their settlement, so they can pray to the Flame Lord at any time.

Of course, there are still only two Holy Maidens: Chenxi and Lidiya.

But there are many elves who have reached the same level of devotion as a Holy Maiden.

It's just that the elves don't have the same custom of a Holy Maiden as humans do.

In fact, for the Green Land elves' Anna, the time she spends in the temple each day is no less than that of a Holy Maiden, and the same goes for Aishara, the chieftain of another Wind Elf tribe.

Maggie of the Wing Elf tribe has recently been compiling the reclamation history of the Holy Flame Forest and the founding history of the Holy Flame Elf Empire.

Hmm, actually it's only been a few months.

But she's done it very earnestly.

She's even included the history of joining the tribe.

In short, throughout the entire Holy Flame Forest, the faith of the Lord of Flames has already gained an absolute advantage.

And as this advantage grows ever larger, it won't be a difficult thing for all the elves of the Holy Flame Forest to believe in the Lord of Flames in the future.

After receiving the Sea Elves, Princess Chenxi set out once again.

A few days later, she brought back another two elf tribes, each with a population of over twenty thousand.

After these two elf tribes were brought back, the number of elves in the Holy Flame Forest officially surpassed one million!

One million elves!

"Chenxi, we now have a million elves. We can formally establish the Holy Flame Elf Empire first, and then, in the name of the Holy Flame Elf Empire, send out invitations to the elf tribes on the continent. Some elf tribes that originally lived fairly stably, weren't willing to make a move, or were relatively far away will also be willing to come over by then."

On this day, Romina said to Princess Chenxi.